Coffee and High Blood Pressure: More is better?

For years, there has been some concern that people who drink a lot of coffee or other caffeinated drinks may be placing themselves at increased risk of developing high blood pressure. That's because caffeine, like all stimulants, is known to increase heart rate and blood pressure over the short term.

New data, though, casts some surprising light on these worries - more coffee, it turns out, may be better than some coffee. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who drink six or more cups of coffee per day have the same risk of developing high blood pressure as those who drink no coffee. The surprise is that people who drink only a moderate amount of coffee (less than three cups per day) seem to be at higher risk than either heavy coffee drinkers or those who drink no coffee at all.

Dr Cuno Uiterwaal, the study's lead author, suggests that one possible explanation is that heavy coffee drinkers develop tolerance to the stimulant effects of caffeine, and thus experience a smaller effect on blood pressure and heart rate compared to those who consume less caffeine.

While saying that a certain food is definately good or definately bad is a very difficult thing to do, other evidence has suggested that coffee may have some overall benefit to health. At the very least, there does not seem to be any reason to advise that healthy people avoid coffee.